The Review

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Legal Issues & Courts

Monday, February 16, 2015

“You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”—George Orwell, 1984

None of us are perfect. All of us bend the rules occasionally. Even before the age of over-criminalization, when the most upstanding citizen could be counted on to break at least three laws a day without knowing it, most of us have knowingly flouted the law from time to time.

Indeed, there was a time when most Americans thought nothing of driving a few miles over the speed limit, pausing (rather than coming to a full stop) at a red light when making a right-hand turn if no one was around, jaywalking across the street, and letting their kid play hookie from school once in a while. Of course, that was before the era of speed cameras that ticket you for going even a mile over the posted limit, red light cameras that fine you for making safe “rolling stop” right-hand turns on red, surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition software mounted on street corners, and school truancy laws that fine parents for “unexcused” absences.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

For those who have not read last week's article "The next liberal frontier is America's children," I very recently advocated for parental rights in opposing the proliferation of State-mandated vaccines - those that American children must undergo if they want to attend public schools. That discussion has produced enough of a kerfuffle about alleged conservative ignorance that I'm inclined to respond where I would have otherwise moved forward to a new topic.

Disproportionate agitation on the part of the Borg's auxiliary "vaccinate or you will be vaccinated" group began because I relayed a story that I read in my youth about a young woman who was imprisoned at Dachau during the Second World War…now quoting myself with obedient irony:

The woman was housed at Dachau. One day, she was told that she was going to be taking a shower. Her group was very happy because it had been a while since they had last showered. They were looking forward to feeling clean. The humanity in that expression of joy over that basic need to feel clean, which had been denied them by an authoritarian regime – it's simply about self-preservation and the joy of survival. Filth equals disease. Disease equals death.

The anticipation of showering meant that very few people were paying attention to the situation's details. The woman of this story happened to be standing near the end of the line. Her bunkmates were being taken away in small groups and she observed women going into the shower area, but no one was coming out. She became concerned. She looked over to a nearby corner and noticed that there was a bucket and a floor brush there, so she quietly grabbed it when no one was paying attention and pretended that she was part of the cleanup crew. She then backed out of the building and escaped. Her bunkmates were gassed.

For making this reference, I have been accused of trivializing the Holocaust by supposedly comparing its devastation to the plight of parents who don't want to vaccinate their children. For making this reference, I have been called a vaccine denier. For making this reference, the editors of Illinois Review have been pilloried for allowing an ostensibly disgusting comparison to be published on their site.

Friday, February 06, 2015

Consumed by equivocation, I've tried to figure out how I can say what I want to say about our vaccination nation without coming off as a flat-earth lunatic. I've concluded that it's time to embrace the lunacy.

The term "settled science" may be a fair approximation in many scientific circumstances, but it particularly irritates me when it's used to condescend, trivialize concerns and perpetuate intellectual elitism. More importantly, the growing monotheism associated with scientific discovery signifies an academic hubris that points to a rejection of the scientific method and the end of human progress.

If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance ~ Orville Wright

Simply put, the intellectual snobbery of "settled science" is an indolent weapon used to stop the everyman from daring to ask questions that interfere with the State's incontestable authority.

But as we well know, the science is pretty indisputable…to borrow a phrase from our great Pontificator in Chief…vaccines save lives. Mumps, measles and polio are preventable, and parents who love their sons and daughters should unflinchingly present their children's upper thighs to the nearest pediatrician as a symbol of their love of mankind and nation, or they are superstitious science haters.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

There are as many truisms in war as there are in peace. Favorites include “The generals are always fighting the last war,” “There is nothing new under the sun,” “An army marches on its stomach.”

All are true, to an extent, and can be applied to the study of any war, including the current one.

But it’s also worth considering one of the great lies of all time, always cited, rarely true: “But This Time Is Different!”

We say it to our parents when we hope for an exception at home; we say it to our bosses when we miss a deadline at work. And politicians certainly say it every time a policy fails. But is this time really, truly different? Or are we just focusing on the slightest bit of variance and stretching it, in hope of making essentially the very same thing look different enough to evade blame for indecision or error?

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Back in 2012, a cake maker by the name of Jack Phillips refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple (Charlie Craig and David Mullins) on the grounds that doing so would violate his conscience and religious principles. Mr. Phillips explained that he would be glad to bake anything else for them, but his religious beliefs precluded him from making them a wedding cake.

Seeing as how Jack Phillips is apparently the only baker in the greater Denver area and is therefore responsible for depriving all gay people everywhere of the constitutionally protected right to delicious confections, the ACLU filed a complaint on behalf of Mr. Craig and Mr. Mullins stating, "…the baker's religious beliefs don't give him a right to discriminate and violate Colorado law." The specific Colorado law in question is the 2008 Public Accommodations Law on sexual orientation and identity.

Judge Robert N. Spencer agreed with the ACLU and ordered Mr. Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop to serve gay couples. Quoting from CBS News in Denver:

Monday, December 22, 2014

If anything captures the state of a hobbled, declining America under President Payback, it is this headline from Friday's Wall Street Journal story about the cyber-terrorist attack by the North Koreans on Sony Pictures: "U.S. Struggles for Response to Hack." The story goes on to quote another hack, Obama spokes imbecile, the inappropriately named Josh Earnest, saying that the Regime is seeking a "proportional" response.

History has shown that the Obama administration has a very twisted and skewed view of proportionality. Five Islamofascist terrorists for 1 deserter. Three citizens of a brutally repressive regime that harbors American fugitives who killed Americans, one of the three convicted of attempted murder, in exchange for an American hostage whose crime was trying to help the Cuban people get on the internet. A junk-science based "climate change" agreement with China, in which the U.S. agrees to strangle its economy by reducing its carbon emissions by at least 26% from 2005 levels, and the Chinese agree to a "target" of getting 20% of its energy from renewable sources by around 2030, maybe, if they feel like it. China builds one coal burning power plant a month, while Obama's war on coal has destroyed jobs and economic growth in some of the poorest regions of America. Just one month after this "historic" agreement, we learn about the North Korea cyber attack, an event that could not have been accomplished without the assistance of the Chinese.

Monday, December 08, 2014

Seventy-three years ago yesterday, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Today, our liberty hangs in the balance, but not due to any foreign threat, but because of the enemy within, the traitorous, corrupt media, enabling a lawless, gangsta regime, by running endless stories on the irredeemable racism of our country, most of which conflate the Garner case with the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Missouri.

As you well know, but for his race, Barack Obama would still be on a Chicago street corner with his clipboard and bullhorn, trying to stir up a sense of entitlement and rage among poor black people. So, the last thing he, and his fellow race baiters like Eric Holder, revered presidential advisor/tax cheat "Rev." Al Sharpton, and his repellant wife, Michelle "Black Solidarity" Obama, want is what Dr. King urged; that is, a society in which people are judged, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.

If that lofty and admirable vision were to be realized, where does that leave this passel of mediocre, affirmative-action assisted jerks, all of whom are C players, at best? Their supporting that would make about as much sense as the CEO of McDonald's dreaming of everyone on the planet going vegan. Right on cue, the dead enders of the Occupy Wall Street and anti-globalization imbeciles display their ignorance and even stupidity, staging "die ins" by lying down in the street, and chanting irrational slogans like "Hands up. Don't Shoot," which are at war with the facts in the Ferguson case. Thought experiment: Obama's America, Mobocracy or Idiocracy? Discuss among yourselves.

Friday, December 05, 2014

The Congressional Black Caucus came to the floor of the US House of Representatives on Monday with game faces on. They entered with their hands up in the air as a display of faux surrender to show solidarity for Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri because Mr. Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson during an altercation earlier this year. As a recap, a grand jury has decided not to indict Wilson after reviewing evidence, and this has led to civil unrest and devastation in Ferguson and throughout the nation.

In addition to the lynch mob mentality displayed through what one might interpret as the Congressional Black Caucus's public infidelity to the truth, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan prophesied of the certain destruction of American cities because the grand jury in Ferguson – which he contends is representative of American injustice – failed to provide the proper sacrificial lamb to Farrakhan's golden cow of hatred. Following his logic, we are required to submit that, guilty or no, Wilson needed to be martyred in order to make up for the original sin of slavery, so that peace may prevail in America.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

It's happening in Europe. It's happening in the United States as well. Bathrooms are the new target for the Left's political crusading. According to Maggie Lit of Campus Reform online, if you happen to go into a bathroom at the University of Bristol in the UK, you are likely to notice a sign posted by the LGBT+ Society that offers the following advice to patrons:

If you're in a public bathroom and you think a stranger's gender does not match the sign on the door, follow these steps: 1. Don't worry about it, they know better than you.

In Des Moines, Iowa, two men have gone to court and have won the right to use ladies rooms in public places while a third man lost his battle to use the women's facilities at the YMCA in Burlington, Iowa.

Monday, November 24, 2014

So, Barack Obama finally made good on his threat to unilaterally amend our immigration laws with his pen and phone, and celebrated by jetting off to Vegas, where he lied to an audience of shrieking high school students. He favors groups of backward children for these performances. They are ignorant about even the most basic information about public policy issues, but what they lack in knowledge and information, they make up for in youthful exuberance. Ignorance plus emotions on overdrive, for a demagogue, what's not to like?

I won't insult your intelligence by stating the obvious, or at least not only the obvious; that is, that this amnesty is an affront to the rule of law, separation of powers and the Constitution, and that it is an exercise in pure cynicism and political expediency. We'll discuss the lies in Obama's Friday speech at De La Sol High School in Las Vegas, but there's more to it than that. Beneath the surface, there's a larger agenda. We'll connect the dots today.

Friday, November 21, 2014

As Barack Hussein Obama prepares to deliver the coups de grace to racist Amerika, his lawless unilateral amnesty for at least 5 million illegal aliens, realizing the payback dream that he has been nurturing since he was knee-high to his communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis, it's interesting to reflect on the brilliance of the Founders. Barack and his Marxist friends despise these DWEM's (Dead White European Men), and the Constitution that they bestowed on our wonderful country.

I wonder if Michelle will host a special viewing party, featuring the yummy, high calorie treats that she would scold you for eating. Will Presidential confidant and adviser, tax cheat Al Sharpton be just off camera with his legendary grin? Will Frances Piven be there to watch her protege make her proud?

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Bill Cosby, perhaps the most iconic TV dad of the 1980s and outspoken critic of the deteriorating condition of the African American family, stands accused by multiple women of being a serial rapist. Prior to these accusations, Cosby was positioning an evolving political perspective that tended toward social conservatism. Although it is unlikely that he considers himself a Republican, he espouses an almost Tea Party-like affinity for moral clarity in our culture, and preaches steadfastly for economic self-sufficiency within the African American community.

At the time of this writing, the scandal is rolling along with the accusation and information gathering phase, and it still remains to be seen whether Cosby is guilty of rape. There's nothing to be gained in belaboring that point of innocence or guilt with gossip and conjecture. Within this space and time, Bill Cosby is a little like Schrödinger's cat. He's both guilty and innocent until the public's final judgment.

So instead of reveling in the innuendo that will likely undo Cosby's well-crafted public persona and leave him ruined – because guilty or no, he will forever be a punch line to the Left's tale of hypocrisy about social conservatism – let us consider the question, "Why now?"

Monday, November 10, 2014

In spite of the clear message of last Tuesday's election, specifically, that the people want Barack Obama's radical, lawless behavior stopped, leaders of the victorious GOP are sending disturbing signals that they are not as determined to do what they promised when they were looking for our votes.

For example, more than once Senate Majority-Leader-in-Waiting, Mitch McConnell, vowed to fight to repeal Obamacare. Just days before the election, he ran an ad, featuring a Kentucky nurse and mother saying just that. Suddenly, we're hearing about ditching the medical device tax, but not much else.

Perhaps there is still hope. Will the Supreme Court rescue the GOP from its own gutlessness, and thereby rescue the country from Obamacare? Its decision last week to review the Fourth Circuit's decision in King v. Burwell strongly suggests that four justices are willing to reverse the lower court's ruling authorizing tax credits for insurance purchased on federal exchanges, something clearly prohibited by the statute.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Kaci Hickox is a nurse with degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington and the Johns Hopkins University. She spent time in West Africa helping and caring for Ebola patients while working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone. When she returned to the U.S. last Friday, she was forced into quarantine at a New Jersey hospital. She has tested negative for Ebola and has exhibited no symptoms, but she was placed in confinement anyway because Ebola has a 21 day incubation period.

Hickox is now examining possible litigation against the State of New Jersey for having infringed upon her civil liberties because she was detained against her will. Her lawyer…let me rephrase that…one of her multiple lawyers summed up Hickox's position in this way:

"She's a very good person who did very good work and deserves to be honored, not detained, for it."

Doctors Without Borders…for a little background on Médecins Sans Frontières, fifty years ago, a group of French physicians were employed by what is now known as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Crescent Societies and broke away to form an independent movement with its mission to provide timely emergency medical relief free of the administrative and legal restrictions imposed upon the ICRC .

Sunday, October 12, 2014

9-year-old patient Jayden Broadway of Denver is being treated for the enterovirus 68

By Teri O'Brien -

How many American children have died from the Enterovirus D-68, or do you call it the “Unaccompanied Alien Minors Virus?” Were illegal alien children shipped all over the United States after this past summer’s invasion to try to cover up the origin of these infections with a virus that hasn’t been seen in the U.S. since 1962, and which some experts consider more dangerous than Ebola? There is evidence that the answer is yes.

Speaking of Ebola, the third-world plague that Obama was eager to see invade our country for reasons stated here, now a Dallas health care worker, probably a nurse, who took care of the late Liberian, Thomas Eric Duncan, is infected, despite taking every precaution recommended by “experts” from the federal government’s CDC. How could that happen? During a Sunday morning news conference on October 12, the CDC director stated that the cause was a "breach of protocol," while other experts are warning that it may too late to stop the spread of this disease in the U.S. If we had only listened to left-wing lunatic Rep. Alan Greyson. Even he could see back in July that we should have shut down flights from West Africa.

It looks like the One has found a worthy successor to his race-baiting disgrace of an Attorney General, Eric Holder, and he’s a doozy. Reports are that he will be named before the election, which is only 23 days away.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

There is a real reason to be extremely upset about the Supreme Court's underhanded and disgusting ruling of October 6, 2014, which allows rogue, activist, results-oriented federal judges in lower courts to run roughshod over the rights of the American public by declaring that there is a federal Constitutional right to so-called "same sex marriage," which of course, is a ridiculous contradiction in terms to anyone with a passing knowledge of the English language.

No, it's not that we must endure cringe-inducing B-roll of pairs of 300-pound females, some of whom bear a striking resemblance to Chaz Bono, holding the hands of their "brides" resplendent in their strapless white wedding dresses. (Who knew those dresses came in size Orca?) Nor is it the obligatory footage of two males French-kissing after they are pronounced "husband" and "husband."

Those things are bad enough, but the real reason to be upset has nothing to do with that. Nor does it matter whether a person opposes so-called same sex marriage, supports it, or isn't sure. Every single American should be extremely concerned about these court decisions because they demonstrate an utter contempt for the rule of law from the very branch of government that should be most concerned about it.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Now that Eric Holder has announced that he will step down once his successor has been named, it's time to review some of the greatest hits of his disgraceful tenure, from “race cowards” to his role in ginning up racial resentment in Ferguson, Missouri, and everything in between. Why did he resign now? What have Obama and Reid cooked up for the lame duck session of Congress?

Friday, September 26, 2014

I just looked at the monitor here in my office and saw two men making some sort of announcement, apparently at the White House. One was a man obsessed with America's irredeemable racism and contemptuous of the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution. The other was Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, at least for the time being. Yes, Eric Holder has resigned, even though Mr. Holder shares Barack Obama's race fixation, which the president displayed again with a cringe-inducing reference to the events in Ferguson, MO during a speech at the United Nations on September 24, 2014. If, while watching that disgusting comment by America's president, you wondered what the robbery of a convenience market and local law enforcement's subsequent actions have to do with vicious, raping, head-chopping terrorists, you obviously don't get it. As Barack and Eric would explain, America sucks because it's racist. End of story, Bitter Clinger. That should have been the title of the book Bill Ayers wrote based on that shoebox of notes Obama dropped off at his house.

An admitted and even proud activist first, and law enforcement officer second, Eric Holder is the perfect Attorney General for the Obama administration, not only because he shares Barack Obama's racialist views and his lack of appreciation for our Founding. Like Barack, he is also "historic." He is the only sitting Cabinet member to have been held in contempt of Congress, for his stonewalling on the Obama administration's despicable anti-2nd amendment racket, the Fast and Furious gun walking scheme. As you well know, that ill-advised policy resulted in the murder of Border Agent Brian Terry in December, 2010.

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Thursday is September 11, the two-year anniversary of the attack on the Benghazi compound, and the 13th anniversary of the murder of nearly 3000 people on American soil by our determined Islamofascist enemy, so it seems like a good time to revisit the effects of Barack Obama's "lead from behind" strategy.

Under Obama's brilliant leadership, we intervened to dispatch wacko dictator Mohamar Gaddafi. How's that working out? Don't worry about the threat of our determined, vicious, murderous enemy. Focus on the "war on women," and racism in local police departments like the one in Ferguson, MO, the current hobby horse of the worst attorney general in America history, Eric Holder.

Monday, August 18, 2014

President Lyndon Johnson launched the "Great Society" program 50 years ago

By Teri O'Brien -

Just wondering …who kills more young black men, white police officers or other young black men? Do "civil rights leaders" from black-on-black shooting gallery Chicago, like Jesse Jackson, who has insinuated himself into the mess in Ferguson, MO, have any credibility there?

Recently, on The Teri O'Brien Show, we joined the rest of the country in celebrating Barack Obama's arrival on the national scene, what has become known as "The Speech," his 2004 Democrat convention performance, and what a performance it was, a declaration that there are no divisions among Americans, and a rejection of attempts by "cynics" to divide us into warring groups based on race, religion or any other external, and irrelevant, difference.

Sunday, August 03, 2014

In any rational universe, with an informed citizenry, Barack Hussein Obama would never have been elected to any important public office, and certainly not re-elected. His relentless and aggressive lawlessness, since that re-election, which was all too predictable, certainly rises to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," and there is not doubt that that same informed citizenry, would have demanded that he be impeached and removed from office.

Should the G.O.P. impeach him? Why don't they? The truth is that the democrats are lying about impeachment to raise campaign cash, very successfully. Forty years ago, another U.S. president faced an actual threat of impeachment.

What was the Watergate scandal really all about? What does it have to do with another event, which occurred 50 years ago, and prolonged our involvement in what the Lame Stream Media dubbed with the cliché "quagmire," the Vietnam War? As stunning as this assertion may be, I am here to tell you that the current media narrative about Watergate is a fairy tale. Find out what really happened.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

CENTRALIA - Despite a federal judge's declaration that Centralia's Murray Center could close, residents' family members have time to consider options because the closure is on hold, officials told The Southern this weekend.

"We will have more information in the coming weeks and will continue to be in constant communication with all parties involved," said Department of Human Services spokeswoman Januari Smith. "This will be a long process and the focus right now is on re-starting discussions with parents about all the living options that are available."

The judge also said in his ruling that the state developmental center must work with the residents' family members to obtain a workable setting for all involved. That's given the family members some room to breathe before they are forced to consider alternatives.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Reflections on the anniversary of New York’s ratification of the Constitution of the United States

On July 26, 1788, the New York State Ratifying Convention voted – by a slim margin of 30 to 27 – to ratify the Constitution of the United States, essentially re-joining the nation that was now in the process of being reorganized. The people of New York City celebrated with the greatest parade of the era, marching through Manhattan Island to cheering crowds. The old New York establishment may have disliked the new Constitution, but the people of America’s fast-growing metropolis certainly saw its potential.

It had been a long, hard road, uphill all the way, as thirteen colonies joined to overthrow the yoke of the British crown, struggled through an impoverished federation, and finally found their way to a revolutionary form of government that would both secure personal liberty and enable economic prosperity. One could argue that the road began far away, years before, in the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis.

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

This week in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court sided with Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties, which objected to Obamacare's contraception coverage mandates and said such coverage imposed a substantial burden to their religious freedom.

In a different 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Illinois can't force home health care workers to pay dues to unions. This applies most directly to the Illinois home care providers who challenged a state decision to classify them as public employees and require them to pay fees to a union.

Conservatives are elated because we have won two battles in our war against outrage and perversion of law. Let us scramble to catch the crumbs of liberty that this tiny victory bestows upon its citizen dogs as they have fallen off the plates of our autocratic masters. Let us pat ourselves on the backs just as our typical premature celebration of victory requires. Let us drop our defenses and delude ourselves that these judgments mark a drastic shift in direction, and that we at last have momentum on our side.

Forget that a 5 to 4 decision means that there are four men and women sitting as Justices of the Supreme Court who disregard the document that they have sworn to uphold as one disregards the used tissue that has been tossed into the garbage. Forget that a 5 to 4 decision means that there are five men who must now vow to live forever acting as buffers against indiscriminate power grabs because no Republican president would dare nominate a constitutional originalist to the Supreme Court for fear it might upset the applecart of phony intellectualism that bleeds from the hearts of progressives.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Last week, after Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor's recent primary defeat and resignation as Majority Leader, the GOP's theme song could have been The Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again," as in "meet the new boss. Same as the old boss." California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, beloved by Silicon Valley and, despite his vociferous denials, enthusiastic supporter of amnesty for illegals, is the new Majority Leader.

In an interesting coincidence, like many of you, I find myself feeling like Kevin McCarthy, not the guy in Congress, but the actor, or rather the character that he played in the classic film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." He could clearly see the terrifying destruction of his perfect American town by an alien invasion, which so many of his friends and neighbors could not. Many of them decided there was no point in resisting, passively assenting to and becoming part of the takeover.

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

The First Amendment is not an overbred Yorkshire terrier that should be carried around in one's handbag and fed treats for its good behavior. Such an image would be horrifying to the framers of the American Constitution.

When I say this, I mean it in the best possible way…freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of religion, freedom to petition, freedom of the press are more akin to a pack of feral dogs and perhaps should be approached with caution rather than with indolence because unfettered liberty is a fearsome, magnificent thing to behold and no one promised that access to it would be comfortable. The whole of the Bill of Rights should most certainly be left to roam in the wilderness with as few restrictions as possible.

We know this from history. The First Amendment may bite, scratch and wound from time to time, but to tame it is to rob the world of political vibrancy and to put it down is to murder dissent. Majestic and utterly terrifying, that kind of political exchange is what our preservationist Founders set out to protect some 230 years ago.

For all the Left's lip service on ecological diversity, it is through liberal lawmaking and actions that we see speech gradually domesticated and pushed into the well-manicured landscapes of suburban living where every day is Pleasant Valley Sunday. Additionally, the First Amendment now finds itself endangered because the politically correct crowd continues restricting the territory on which open political discourse and activity is permitted.

Friday, May 30, 2014

The recent murders in Santa Barbara CA highlighted several of the most unfortunate aspects of contemporary American society; specifically, (1)the double edged sword that is the ready availability of social media, which provides an opportunity for everyone to indulge their narcissistic desire for attention by broadcasting anything, including the sort of demented ranting that used to be mercifully confined to bathroom mirrors, (2) the endless supply of clueless "experts" dredged up by television producers to share their opinions, derived without any personal knowledge or facts about the specific situation they claim to be analyzing and (3) the inevitable exploitation of tragedy by those with political agendas, completely unaware of how ridiculous they sound to intelligent observers, who realize that the laws they are demanding would have not prevented the deaths of innocents.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

I was a partner in a 100-lawyer law firm in Chicago which employed lots of women, as lawyers, secretaries, accountants, and paralegals. I was never aware of any discrimination in hiring, pay or promotions. If a woman lawyer did well, she became a partner. If as a partner she generated more income than male partners, she made more money than they did. It made no business sense not to promote or reward successful lawyers regardless of gender in this ultra-competitive legal market. We were all judged by our numbers. The more fees you generated, the more you earned.

The best secretaries and paralegals tended to be women, but that reflected the applicant pool. There was never a plot not to hire male secretaries. (I had one man work for me who had come from another large Chicago law firm, and his skills were stellar. He was rewarded with raises and stayed for years.) But it was virtually impossible to fire an incompetent female or minority secretary. The HR director of the firm told me that she would do anything, reassigning an under-performing woman to another area of the firm, even helping them find a better job elsewhere, rather than fire them.

Fired female and minority employees go directly to plaintiffs’ “employment discrimination” lawyers within days and then file Title VII discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Human Rights Commission. It’s like filing for unemployment benefits. It’s par for the course. The vast majority of these “complaints” are not pursued by the agencies. But the plaintiffs’ lawyers then file federal lawsuits and drag the employer through months of expensive discovery, deposing executives looking for kernels to corroborate their warped theories of bigoted-induced termination. There are a few legitimate discrimination cases. But every sophisticated employer knows discriminating against a competent employee because of gender or race makes no economic sense. Who wouldn’t want a good woman or minority employee?

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

What exactly is the point of legal marriage? If two people love one another and are willing to make vows before God and witnesses, then what does a state's seal of approval do to improve upon that sacred commitment? More importantly, why are the rule followers of this world still genuflecting to the authority of government in its embezzled role as vicar when legislatures, administrators and the courts don't take their role seriously and continue to weaken the significance of matrimony as an institution?

A license to wed has historically acted as legal proof of a lifelong commitment that two eligible people can make to one another of their own free will. The government bestows a unique set of legal rights and obligations upon people who unite in this way. Marriage has a recognized impact on society, so the government alleges that it has the duty to regulate it in order to protect marriage and our culture…the implication being that religious authorities lack the resolve to properly vet marriage applicants in defense of the individual and society.

Because government will scrutinize the candidates better? So clearly, there are some rhetorical arguments to be made against submitting to legal marriage –

Marriage has long been considered preferable to a lack of legal commitment for its influence over domestic stability. A growing number of people, however, don't marry in order to produce their offspring. And as we well know, there is no law that requires such a pledge of fidelity.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Being seen by all the very best people supporting the nation's only worthwhile woman's issue and establishing for once and all that he isn't one of those crazy "life" advocates… this is what we must surmise was the strategy of Bruce Rauner based on decisions that our Republican gubernatorial candidate made over the last week with regard to abortion advocacy.

By now we've all been dutifully reminded that Bruce Rauner never actually hid his support for a woman's right to kill her preborn child, so don't panic, conservatives. Remember the mantra. Bruce Rauner is the only Republican candidate for governor who can get Illinois back on track…Rauner's a moderate. He's not an extremist. He has no plans to make abortion an issue because the state has more pressing matters to which it must attend.

With all this practicality in mind, you obviously would never have seen Rauner at the Illinois Right to Life celebration that took place on May 8, 2014 featuring Mike Huckabee as the evening's keynote speaker. After all, any moderate will tell you that people who identify specifically as prolife come off as extreme to the average independent thinker, and it's not the message a sensible candidate would want to send to the voters of Illinois.

So the state's leading social moderate instead decided to emphasize his temperate leanings by attending the ACLUs Bill of Rights Dinner on May 10th with keynote speaker Jan Schakowsky:

"Congresswoman Schakowsky spoke with confidence that reproductive freedom will continue to be protected throughout the states," Ed Yohnka (communications director for the ACLU) said, alluding to ACLU-Illinois' success in warding off attempts to restrict abortion in Illinois."

I'll just bet she's confident. Do you know why Jan Schakowsky spoke with such affirmation about the ever expanding, unaccountable abortion rights in the United States? Because the Democrat Party isn't telling Jan Schakowsky to shut up every time she speaks on the subject of preborn baby killing. Her party staunchly supports her as she stands proudly for unrestricted abortion rights as if this is a conventional conversation to be having in very modern, very moderate Illinois politics.

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

"The Holy See and the Catholic Church will, in the near future, be called before the International Court of Justice to answer for its history of crimes against children. The United Nations will be the prime mover in this, but liberal elites in the United States will be doing all they can to bring the Church to Her knees."

…So D. W. Hudson PhD predicted back in February of 2014 in his report on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the committee's recommendations for improving Canon Law to make it more compliant with the United Nation's own professed high standards for child welfare.

But child protection is merely the UN's pretense for a very different agenda. Oddly enough, the Committee on the Rights of the Child didn't seem to value the importance of child protection greatly enough to stick to the raison d'etre. Rather, the recommendations presented to the Holy See by the committee strayed appallingly off topic to include (and now I am borrowing heavily from Hudson's post):

A demand that the Holy See submit itself to UN authority in matters pertaining not only to children's rights but also to homosexuality and abortion.

Forget that such changes should never have been requested. They are completely out of scope and represent a profound mission creep that should not have been considered in the first place.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

One late evening in November of 1938, Germany erupted into a violence that was fuel by years of "organized outbursts of popular anger" and in that night of terror against the Jewish people, homes were burned, riots raged, temples were destroyed and tens of thousands of Jewish men were rounded up and corralled into the concentration camps of Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Dachau. The prevalent description assigned to November 9, 1938 is Kristallnacht. (We translate this as "night of broken glass.") It is believed that Joseph Goebbels created the term as a way of dehumanizing the event as a crime against property instead of a crime against mankind, but in post-Nazi Germany where the people are understandably cautious about adopting Nazi euphemisms, the events leading up to Jewish internment are now called the "Reich pogrom night."See Kristallnacht 1938 by Alan E. Steinweis.

Pogrom is a word of Russian origin that portends grassroots anti-Semitic violence that was perhaps not organized by authorities but was most certainly condoned because Jews of that era had an unusually high representation in the commercial classes which have always been vulnerable to accusations of greed – especially in times of misfortune. Pogroms were intended to frustrate and collapse what was termed "Jewish privilege," and they were used in conjunction with Hitler's "anti-Semitism of reason" against Jews through a "systematic legal struggle." Kristallnacht was tacitly endorsed by Hitler as a means of frustrating private property rights in Germany.

That's how fascists work. Through populist anger and through bureaucratic means, the Left creates unrest in order to authorize controls that are said to protect populations from the commerce that purportedly fosters discontent. Popular anger and bureaucratic control invariably combine and use scapegoats as a way of disenfranchising the middle class from its God-given rights thereby creating a permanent underclass that can then propagate the unrest.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

On Tuesday, Barack Obama, POTUS (aka "Preezy of the United Steezy") told lies about women getting paid less than men for the same work, something that has been illegal in the United States of America since 1963. Seriously. He also said a bunch of untrue stuff about some woman named Lilly Ledbetter and her equal pay lawsuit, something I think I remember from an earlier nightmare.

On Thursday, the President of the United States went to Fort Hood, Texas, to attend a memorial service for some American heroes who were murdered, apparently by a mentally-disturbed fellow serviceman (or should I say "corpsman?"), but bugged out early. He spent less time at Fort Hood then he did collecting big checks from his wealthy campaign contributors later that same day. Weird, right?

Even more disturbing, the president refused a request for ten minutes of his time while he was at Fort Hood on Thursday from a survivor of Major Hassan's jihadi killing spree, Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford (ret.) . He was shot 7 times in November 2009, but Barack Obama didn't have time for him.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The highly evolved and blissfully incredulous have been known to indict the regressive tendencies of lingering monotheism by asking modern day Neanderthals, "At Auschwitz, where was this supposed God of yours?" As a rejoinder to the smacking sting of such an insolent question, one may well righteously respond, "Where was God, you ask? At Auschwitz, where was the whole of humanity?"

I will answer that question for myself. At Auschwitz, men and women of authority were justifying their wicked choices as they always have, as they always will because men and women of conscience would not act in great enough numbers to quash the mutiny against justice. So it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be for as long as mankind insists on proclaiming itself a god.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

As we watch millions of Americans continue to suffer in this horrific economy, losing their jobs, their health insurance, and for those of those gullible enough to believe Barack Obama's risible slogans and promises, any "hope," it's a good time to re-visit the 800-pound gorilla in the room; specifically, the fact that Barack Obama is illegally occupying the office of President of the United States. Too harsh? No, I don't think so. Read on.

I hope that you will all indulge me for a few minutes while I express my love and devotion to that outdated document, the U.S. Constitution, drafted over 200 years ago by DWEM (Dead White European Men) who stuck their necks out to make it happen. It has been pronounced "quaint" by none other than liberal wunderkind/twit, the Washington Post's Ezra Klein. If I a guy ever looked like he was about to be on the receiving end of an atomic wedgie, it's this guy, the "whippersnapper apparatchik," Mr. Klein. He finds the Constitution "confusing, because it was written over 100 years ago. Yeah, that Gettysburg Address is also a stumper, right, my lefty friend? That's obviously a fine education they give you at UCLA. In fairness to Ezra, I hear that he has mastered every level of World of Warcraft.

Unfortunately, it's not only the silly, callow Mr. Klein who regards the Constitution as a relic of a bygone age. Barack Obama himself is no fan of the document of "negative liberties," a way to obfuscate what he really thinks; specifically, that the Constitution is deeply flawed because it is primarily a restriction on the federal government, and that's bad.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Do you have the first clue of the depth of the sinister scheming that has gone on for years to destroy this country? Lawlessness abetted by an ignorant, uninterested public, dumbed down by government schools, at the mercy of activist liberal judges and agenda-driven “public interest” lawyers is helping the Left "transform" America, as our Dear Reader has promised.

As J.D. Longstreet so eloquently stated recently at teriobrien.com, it’s not possible to be free and ignorant.

Recently, two federal judges, one in Virginia, an unqualified appointee, who is like the man who appointed her, Barack Obama, an affirmative action beneficiary, and one in Utah, decided to blow their noses on the Constitution, the rule of law and federalism in the service of advancing so-called "same sex marriage." Who cares if the people of those states oppose that "forward" thinking idea? How did we get to the point in this country that federal judges could disregard the will of the people because of some supposed right to sodomy? To understand that, we have to connect some dots, and learn the shocking facts about the landmark case that set us down the road to Gomorrah.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Reid Schar, the lead prosecutor in Rod Blagojevich’s case, has been tapped to head up the investigation into allegations of political payback under New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.

Schar, who left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago and joined Jenner & Block, is serving as special counsel.

“We can confirm that the firm has been retained,” Phillip McGowan, Global Communications Manager, tells the Sun-Times, adding that Schar is serving as special counsel.…

Schar was the lead prosecutor in the trial and retrial of disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who is now serving 14 years behind bars after he was convicted of attempting to sell Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.

“It’s vital to have someone of the caliber of Mr. Schar joining us in this effort,” Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson/Bergen) said in a statement. “A potential misuse of taxpayer resources for political purposes is a serious matter that requires an astute legal eye with experience in this realm to help guide the process. I look forward to the assistance he will offer under the leadership of Chairman Wisniewski.”

Gee, you don't suppose--no, now I'm thinking like one of those black helicopter spotting, tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theory believers, but here goes--is there any chance that someone in the Obama Regime has something to do with this appointment? It's probably just an amazing coincidence, and once again I am just confused.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Farmer Brown had a large chicken coop on his property. He noticed that foxes were getting in and stealing and eating his chickens, so he determined that he needed to fence it in.

Farmer Brown sought permission from the local government for a high fence. Immediately, the wheels of government started to turn:

Deputy Fox had him fill out some forms,

Sheriff Coyote checked his fingerprints,

County Clerk Jackal processed his applications and his filing fee;

Judge Wolf supervised an audit of Farmer Brown’s friends and doctors to make a determination on his medical and psychological health.

Finally, the local government granted Farmer Brown’s request, and allowed him to build an 8’ high fence all around his chicken coops.

There was just one condition: Every eight feet, there had to be a two foot wide, three foot high opening in the fence so that the foxes could get in and out without injuring themselves. And of course, Sheriff Coyote would send Deputy Fox in for inspections once a month at random, just to make sure that the mandatory openings hadn’t been closed off, and, while he was at it, to make sure that the chickens were still tasty.

Farmer Brown was beginning to wonder if it would be worth all the bother after all…

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The saga of Phil Robertson's suspension from A&E's money making machine, "Duck Dynasty," has come to a happy ending (for the time being). The forces of good have won a battle against the wholly intolerant bullies who ironically push their ideas of "tolerance" and "anti-bullying." Perhaps the icing on the cake is the ignoring of efforts to capitalize by extortion whore, Jesse Jackson.

There are lessons that can be taken from the saga as it unfolded over the last couple of weeks. The lessons, which stem from something the pompous TOTUS reader in Hawaii might refer to as a "teachable moment," illuminate the state of at least three facets of our society and its culture. Two areas are painted with a damning brush as exposed by the various reactions to Phil's answer to the targeted question by the liberal ragporter. The third area is highlighted as a reason to not abandon all hope.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified by the Old Dominion – the Commonwealth of Virginia – enabling the Bill of Rights to hit the necessary three-quarters requirement for passage. With Virginia’s ratification, the Bill of Rights was now a part of the Constitution of the United States.

Both how we came to this point, and the reason it was done, tell us a great deal about the Founding Era. To better understand where we are today, let’s take a moment to look back, and remember 18th century America… and return to the present, and ponder how far we have fallen.

Rights Guaranteed, Rights Trampled

The United States of America was born in the British tradition of guaranteed civil rights. A once-unlimited monarchy was constrained, bit by bit, by hard-won agreements. The Magna Carta in 1215, the Petition of Right in 1628, the Habeus Corpus Act of 1679, the Declaration of Rights in 1689… again and again, over the 700 years between the Norman Conquest and the movement for independence in America, the British people had won guarantees against government abuse… through political action, through negotiation, through threat of insurrection.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

On Friday, we noted that after spending nearly four years demonizing “bad apple” insurance companies for selling his simple-minded subjects “substandard” insurance policies, made illegal by his signature “achievement,” suddenly His Royal Highness King Barack has decided that he wants to “work together” to make sure that they can resume doing just that. He invited insurance executives to the White House to apologize to them for all those mean things he said, and to have a friendly exchange of ideas.

No, not really. He invited them to experience the Chicago Way, as in “Nice little company you have there. Shame if anything happened to it.” Of course, it’s not all stick. It turns out there could be a little carrot for the insurance companies if they know what’s good for them and play ball. We’ll unpack that on today’s show.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

In Law and Order re-runs after some tragedy has occurred, prior to grilling the victim’s family the police officer quickly states the obligatory phrase, “I’m sorry for your loss.” It is sterile, meaningless, and as heartfelt as the streaming digital “Thank you” at the automated gas pump.

Fortunately, genuine compassion has been given another reprieve. Pennsylvania recently became the 37th state to enact an “apology law.” When there is an unanticipated outcome of medical care, apology laws allow physicians to express sincere feelings without fear that such expressions will be used against them in court. These statutes range from shielding all “statements, affirmations, gestures or conduct expressing apology, fault, sympathy, commiseration, condolence, compassion or a general sense of benevolence” (Connecticut) to expressions of sympathy or benevolent gestures, i.e., “actions which convey a sense of compassion or commiseration emanating from humane impulses” (California).

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Just as NBC News just discovered last week that Obamacare is causing businesses to reduce employees’ hours or lay off people altogether, liberal FOB (Friend of Bill) and economics professor Robert Reich asks in a new op-ed “Why the anger?” in America today. Seriously? Where do we start? This sort of foolish scribbling is why my work is never done. I’ve got ten answers to that question. I’m sure you’d like to add your answer. Please join us live and sound off.

Speaking of sounding off, is there any more insightful, plain spoken font of common sense and penetrating commentary than the Sage of South Central, Larry Elder? No, which is why we are delighted to have him return to the show today. What does he make of the bizarre attempt by the Oprah to portray herself as Rosa Parks because she was allegedly dissed by a European sales clerk in some hoity-toity boutique while attempting to purchase a $38,000 purse? I for one can’t wait to hear his take on that one!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

It seems a little weird defending one's right to hate, doesn't it? It ranks right up there with defending the right to be overweight or the right to chew tobacco but in spite of the negative images that these civil liberties bring to our mind, they all fall under that big umbrella known as unalienable rights. We all know hate holds a negative connotation and here in America we're supposed to be nice people who never experience any unsanctioned bad thought or feeling – homogenous, milquetoast and utterly devoid of the individuality that occasionally brings about animosity.

And I suppose that even that description is not quite accurate because hate, hate speech and hate crimes are commonly permissible if the hater is the right kind of hater. Such avant-garde rogues of cliché are sanctioned to hate on anyone or anything they want and may act on that hate in any manner they choose so long as they are affiliated with the Democrat Party and its progressive agenda…in which case, the more vile and hyperbolic they can be the better they serve their comrades and their glorious cause. Constraint for me but not for thee so it would seem.

As abhorrent as it may be, the truth is that hate is not only a much maligned and misapplied word these days, we really undervalue hate as a necessary emotion in the drive for social and spiritual change. It can act as a vice, no doubt. But it can also be a virtue in the impetus for positive change depending on how it's used.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

There are a plethora of complaints about our federal and state
governments. I think we can ignore the complaints from those who believe
government is too small or does not do enough, as those complaints are
equivalent to lamenting that the level of damage is too low. On the
other hand, reasonable complaints, those dealing with big spending and
overreach, need to be addressed. The problem with addressing those
complaints is that too often, those who complain don't really want to
stop the actions they decry... or they seek to only limit those
governmental oversteps that don't comport with their personal
philosophies or desires.

Focusing on the federal government first, we must examine the means
to a good government end. Perhaps we don't need to engage in root cause
analysis, at least not initially, to stem the flow of waste, burden, and
strangling regulation from those who enjoy the power and perks of
federal elected office. I think the late Ronald Reagan was on the right
track when he uttered the following:

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.

The Zimmerman verdict has given the race industry, which sadly includes the Attorney General of the United States and his boss, Barack Obama, ample opportunity to lament the ongoing “racism” of Amerika, and inspired some of the most idiotic statements ever broadcast on television, including by jurors who seem compelled to tell their “stories,” for some inexplicable reason. Yet, stories about black on white crime get no traction in the legacy media. Why is that the case? We’ll ask the author of the best-seller, White Girls Bleed A Lot: The return of racial violence and how the media ignore it., Colin Flaherty.

Anthony Weiner’s Tuesday’s cringe-inducing press conference, left many wondering what is the real story behind America’s new “power couple,” and the “good wife” Huma? Is she a loving supportive parter, or an ambitious enabler? Isn’t it amazing how, suddenly, the public is supposed to be concerned about a politician’s private life? Weren’t we told in 1998 that behavior that was just “about sex” was irrelevant to evaluating a person’s qualification for high office? What’s changed?

Monday, July 22, 2013

The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. The use of the adjective "controversial" to qualify the word "issue" is a meaningless redundancy. There can be no such thing as a "non-controversial" issue. When there is agreement there is no issue; issues only arise when there is disagreement or controversy. An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent; provide a channel into which the people can angrily pour their frustrations. --Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

Sunday, July 21, 2013

At this point, is there a dime's worth of difference between Barack Obama and Eric Holder on the one hand, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on the other? If you have any doubt about that, and about why Barack Obama appeared to do more race hustling in the White House briefing room, perhaps the following will clear things up. From the Washington Post:

On Thursday, Obama informed his senior staff that he wanted to share his thoughts, leading to his appearance at the podium Friday during Carney’s scheduled daily briefing.

Civil rights leaders have been communicating with White House officials about the Zimmerman case, including a conference call Tuesday with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. But officials said they did not press Obama to speak publicly about the case.

Sharpton said he discussed the issue with Jarrett over breakfast Friday.

Wait--Al Sharpton, Race Hustler Extraordinaire, he of Tawana Brawley and Freddy's Fashion Mart Fame, was having breakfast with the One's closest adviser last Friday. This, after Sharpton had been agitating for months to intimidate Florida officials into prosecuting (persecuting) a man who exercised his right of self-defense. No one should be surprised that gutless weasel politicians were all too eager to comply.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Late on a Saturday night in the big city, fleeing the scene of a shooting, a criminal plows into an intersection, the police in hot pursuit. The suspect totals an otherwise uninvolved car, in which a mother is picking up her daughter from work. The innocent mother is killed. By morning, there is an uproar, as activists and pundits rise up to blame the police for the poor lady’s death.

One February evening in a gated community in Florida, a neighborhood watch volunteer notices a young thug in the bushes, apparently high, likely casing potential homes to burglarize. The watchman calls it in to the police, but before the officials arrive, the thug has jumped the volunteer and pummeled him on the pavement. Fearing for his life, his gun having been spotted by his much stronger attacker, the volunteer draws his handgun first and fires, killing the thug in a single shot. Immediately, a chorus of activists turn the late pothead into a poster boy for race relations, and spend a year and a half threatening riots (and eventually delivering them) if the volunteer isn’t railroaded for murder.

The two cases are as different as they can be. The Chicago story involves the death of an innocent bystander whose car happened to be in the way. The Sanford story involves the death of a violent drug-abuser, shot in self-defense by his intended victim. But the stories also have something important in common...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Even though the George Zimmerman trial is symbolic of much that is wrong in American culture, the event is not the leading indicator of social decay by any stretch of the imagination. We've had enough legislative fiat, executive ordering and Supreme Court induced, extra constitutional anarchy in the last four years to prove that point, but the national bloodlust toward and around George Zimmerman before charges were even made against him for the disastrous death of Trayvon Martin…found guilty in the press because his surname sounded too Caucasian… was a stunning display of brutality even if it was not completely unexpected.

The event has been kind of a Babe Ruth moment for conservative journalists and bloggers though – which is not as interesting as it sounds, by the way – because all they've had to do in order to deduce fallout of the George Zimmerman trial was stand at home plate, point ballpoint pens to the centerfield bleachers and knock the story out of the ball park. The disingenuous responses to Trayvon's death have been taken from such an overused template that it's hard to deny the worn out emotion. One could hardly fail to hit a home run in assuming how it would end. There is nothing so inadequate…so dissatisfying as predictability when it comes to people living down to expectations, and of the infinite outcomes possible with millions of autonomous Americans acting to throw off the odds maker, there were only two that were actually likely given the PC era in which we live.